Liberty Counsel, which pretends to be “dedicated to advancing religious freedom,” yet which regularly attacks the religious freedom of others, is now asserting that that groups whose religious practices “offend other faiths” should be prohibited. Bob Unruh at World Net Daily tells us that “‘God-loving Americans’ confront ‘filth peddling’ Satanists” over the Black Mass in “the heart of the Bible belt.”

Well hell, sign me up. With the Satanists that is. Not because I agree with Satanism, but because I believe Satanists should have the right to practice their beliefs too. But apparently 170,000 Right Wing Nut Job opponents of the First Amendment signed a petition at TFP Student Action to find fault with my iron-clad reasoning.

They’re offended dammit. So the show must not go on. Even though they’re not actually going to the show unless they bought a ticket.

Just the mere fact of somebody else practicing their religious beliefs is hateful to fake Christians to the extent that they insist those practices must be banned. And it isn’t just Satanism. You remember Bryan Fischer’s horrified objection to the Obamas letting actual Hindus into the White House to celebrate the Festival of Lights.

Now, that isn’t what the First Amendment says, of course. It isn’t even what Liberty Counsel once said, as Right Wing Watch reminds us:

Ironically, Liberty Counsel itself once cited Justice William Brennan’s claim that “[i]f there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

Liberty Counsel is more than happy to champion its own spokesperson’s religious freedom when they are attacking Islam in a public place. But God and therefore the government forbid anyone else should have access to the same rights as a Christian.

With my whole heart and soul, I express full, complete and vehement rejection of the satanic ‘Black Mass’ scheduled at the Oklahoma City Civic Center on September 21, 2014. I urge you to cancel this event which offends 1 billion Catholics worldwide, 200,000 Catholics in Oklahoma and countless more God-loving Americans. Sacrilege is simply NOT free speech.

Sacrilege is free speech. Sacrilege is a religious, not a civil law, and America is a democracy, not a theocracy. If sacrilege isn’t free speech, the Religious Right better stop telling people Jesus loved the rich and hated the poor. That’s not only sacrilege, it’s the sin of lying.

Another petition at citizengo.org has apparently collected 96,952 signatures. That’s a quarter of a million people who oppose the First Amendment in the Bible Belt. Color me unsurprised.

According to WND Archbishop Paul Coakley said,

“I am calling on all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City to counteract this challenge to faith and decency through prayer and penance,” and Bishop Edward Slattery said, “As a part of satanic worship, a Black Mass attempts to invert the action and meaning of the Eucharist in order to mock Christ’s sacrifice and worship Satan through an orgiastic ritual of pain and perversion. It blasphemes everything which we hold as sacred and redemptive; and the spiritual dangers it poses ought not be dismissed. Since the Civic Center has not responded positively to the pleas of the archbishop of Oklahoma City not to host this event in a taxpayer supported public venue, I am asking the faithful Catholics in the diocese of Tulsa to fight this blasphemy through prayer and fasting.”

It is beyond befuddling that a religion which regularly attacks gays in a hateful manner and which also apparently finds no fault in the abuse of children, is so offended by a religious ritual.

Isn’t raping a child “pain and perversion” as well? And the Catholic Church is offended that the ritual is taking place in a “taxpayer supported public venue”? What is this to the Catholic Church, which pays no taxes? Don’t pretend now, only when it’s handy, that you care about taxes. You don’t even get a say where taxes are concerned.

This ‘Black Mass’ is a disgusting mockery of the Catholic faith, and it should be equally repellent to Catholics and non-Catholics alike,” said Fallin. “It may be protected by the First Amendment, but that doesn’t mean we can’t condemn it in the strongest terms possible for the moral outrage which it is. It is shocking and disgusting that a group of New York City ‘satanists’ would travel all the way to Oklahoma to peddle their filth here. I pray they realize how hurtful their actions are and cancel this event.

Every Black Mass is a direct, deliberate and sinful act of hatred against God. Typically, a consecrated host is stolen from a Catholic Church and then used to desecrate, mock and insult the Catholic Mass. The Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ is attacked in a most vile and unspeakable manner. These insults against God are not only offensive to Christians, but also repulsive to everyone of good will.

When government buildings open their doors and allow a satanic ‘Black Mass’ that offends God so deeply, it begs the question: Are we still one nation under God?” the statement continued, “To invite Satan into a community is NO joke. It’s a terrible sin that brings devils to the earth and provokes God to withdraw His graces and blessings.

WND quotes Michael Caspino of the Busch & Caspino law firm as saying, “It’s one thing to allow different religions to come in and celebrate their religion. It’s a whole different thing to allow a group to come in that seeks to desecrate and insult another religion.”

In that case, the Bible must be immediately banned as must all Christian religious services. The Old Testament is one long anti-Pagan diatribe, filled with hate and violence against non-Jews, while the New Testament is filled with hatred of Jews, blaming them for the death of Jesus. And Christian church services are regularly filled with sermons denouncing Paganism. I’ve sat through a few.

This line particularly had me laughing: “These insults against God are not only offensive to Christians, but also repulsive to everyone of good will.”

Au contraire. This is no less than not only fake Christians but actual real Christians do to other faiths in Church each Sunday as they revile Paganism, and the so-called Christians of the Religious Right regularly attack Islam and other religions “in a most vile and unspeakable manner,” as when Fischer called the goddess Lakshmi a demon. I don’t recall Liberty Counsel getting upset by that. What, is Christianity the only religion which cannot be mocked?

Archbishop Coakley told Fox News that, “Not all speech is protected if there is hate speech and it is intended to ridicule another religion,” he added. “I don’t believe it is a free speech matter.”

So in other words, you can ridicule gays and other religions, but other religions can’t ridicule your religion.

The issue here is religious freedom. The Religious Right pretends to champion religious freedom but it opposes it, and it is clear that many rank and file find religious freedom repulsive and a thing to be condemned. What they want is not religious freedom, but religious privilege.

The fly in the buttermilk is that the First Amendment categorically states, “Thou shallt have no religious privilege.”

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

Apologies for any infelicities that resulted from much cutting and pasting as I moved text around to improve my draft. I read through the result several times, apparently seeing what I expected to see, and as I was my own editor, alas, any fault is mine.

So if law forbids religions that offend other religions, what happens when the Satanists insist they’re offended by Christianity? And when the Fundamentalists decide they’re offended by Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc?

Muslim extremists preaching jhiad are also just practicing their free expression. You gonna defend them when they bring their hate to your neighborhood? Use your head. This is a grossly superficial criticism of Christian faith unworthy of this usually enlightening blog.I don’t like RWNJs any better than you do, but I’m a liberal Episcopalian professor who teaches civil rights and I also think Satanism disgusting and ridiculous-because it is. Study reasoning fallacies and stop making straw men out of Christians. Stop and think for a few minutes all the good things that wouldn’t exist in this world without loving, intelligent Christians. How many hospitals, universities, &schools were founded by Catholics? How many homeless people are Christians currently feeding and sheltering in your city? What social good has the Satanic “religion” EVER promoted and provided the world? (And please remember the left needs those silly Catholics to win elections.Don’t piss them off 4 no good …

Hraf, I simply love getting up in the morning and reading your articles.

Has anyone seen this God or the Satan in modern times? Or at any time in the history of the world? I know the answer is no, yet you believe they exist? If you believe that exist, then you probably should be believing that others who have gods also believe that their gods exist.

I beg everyone to look a little bit deeper and ask yourself what would life be like if governments and administrations came down on the side of the Catholic Church. What is the next logical step? Everything you do can be critiqued, criticized and/or banned by said church. is that freedom? The freedom that you expect from your Constitution?

At some point you have to come to the conclusion that all religions are the same. Everyone has their own God, even if that God turns out to be a devil in someone else’s opinion. At no time should that other person’s opinion take precedence.

I see you have many ways to justify “Christians” having their own form of jihad. We have Christian extremist preaching around jihad here in our own neighborhoods. Yet you so easily turn your head and walk away. What you think of Satanism is a personal belief, but if others decide to worship in that face it is none of your business. The same as if it is Hindus, Buddhists or Muslims.

Your argument about extremist preaching jihad in our neighborhoods is nothing more than a complete falsehood. to preach Jihad in America is to advocate killing and that is a crime. Catholics and others like Tony Perkins and Brian Fisher are our modern day extremists.

Remember, when talking about Christians and Catholics in this manner, the discussion is about the leadership and not the common churchgoing person unless they decide to enter in to their leadership’s jihad

“By all means, let’s use the power of ‘big government’ that we claim to hate, to deny other Americans their Constitutional rights. Our beliefs are so fragile, they cannot stand on their own, in the public square. We must make Caesar do our bidding!”

To which, they replied:

“Dear Mr. Sick of fake Christians,

Thank you so much for signing TFP Student Action’s petition. God bless you!”

“TFP Student Action is a project of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. Founded in 1973, the American TFP was formed to resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and private property. The American TFP was inspired by the work of the Brazilian intellectual and man of action Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira.”

So basically they say they’re for religious freedom… but only if you’re Christian or Catholic.

Those Satanists have just as much of a right to mock (for lack of a better word here) their god as Christians and Catholics have just as much of a right to worship their god. Just because you believe in another form of god doesn’t mean you should be treated like crap.

Plus, if the 1st Amendment went down in flames, we would have an American Inquisition.

You’re a classic example of the “Christian” jihadists! Displaying your disgust with other religions, satanists in particular. In my state, unless you are a christian based religious charity, you cannot get grants to fund your charity,stated as having to be “faith-based” charity. Leaving no room for atheist charities. Why must someone have a “faith” to receive help to help others? That is the state forcing religion on others. Not what Jesus had in mind! Jesus wanted his followers to come to him freely and whole-heartedly. Not by mandate. The fact that they attack gays and HIV regularly is part of what has driven me from my So. Baptist roots. My first wife gave me HIV. Yet, because of my HIV, I am constantly accused of being gay, and denied medical help, among other things. I do not denounce God and Jesus, I denounce organized religion! If it weren’t for the fact that it would give the church more say in politics,it SHOULD lose its tax-exempt status!

A couple disclaimers.
First, I am a devout Catholic.
Second, the eucharist is an extremely important part of my faith and the practice thereof.

That being said, although I find Satanism repugnant I have no problem with what they self proclaimed Satanists are doing. I say self-proclaimed rather than so-called, because I think many of them aren’t really Satanists, but rather people who call themselves that just to get a rise out of people.

There is a quote in the article about how this is a challenge to “faith and decnecy”, which is a bunch of BS. If people really feel this is a challenge to their faith, I question just how sincere or strong their faith is that they think this, in effect, satire is really a challenge or something they need to defend themselves against.

This is the same mentality that says that if two gay people get married it threatens all heterosexual marriages.

Any body who has a strong sense of their faith basically would look at this and laugh.

You are why when I criticize the church and religions, I make sure to state I am talking about the leadership, not the common everyday person who goes to church, practices their faith and is not a person who gets involved in others beliefs. Thank you.

This isn’t about beliefs, it’s about money and power. The catholic diocese(s) need lots of cash to pay off priestly buggery and wall street can buy legislative power hiding behind religious BS. A marraige made in hell.

As a heathen, I’m offended by their being offended. WWJD? He’d send all these fakes straight to hell. No rapture for these jerks.

Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman lived in the US and called on Muslims in NYC to assail the West, preaching at 3 mosques in NYC. That sounds like anyone’s backyard. He cultivated the minds of the terrorists who planned the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Towers. Thank goodness he is life in prison now.

So the downvote is that god controls the weather? Can someone please tell me we are no longer living in the stone age and if we are where is the nearest volcano so I can sacrifice a virgin to appease him

The phrase “one nation under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, and “in God we trust” replaced “E Pluribus Unum” on our currency in 1956, both during another flare-up of conservative religiosity in the early 50’s, similar to what’s going on now, and in conjunction with the anti-communist hysteria of Joe McCarthy, who ended up being censored by the Senate.
Apparently these Christo/Bircher flare-ups run in 50 to 60 year cycles……..

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

We must make sure not to offend the religious rights of the corporations. We don’t want to hurt their feelings by belonging to one of those “religious groups whose religious practices offend other faiths.” This stuff is so crazy & ridiculous it makes my head hurt. I’d laugh if it wasn’t so scary.

I wish we could vote out the conservatives like Scotland gets to do today with a simple Yes/No ballot.

The US in serious trouble. The Dems must keep the Senate to prevent the appointment of anymore RW Conservative justices to SCOTUS.

This is happening in my neck of the woods. I have seen several comment threads from the local news stations on Facebook, and you won’t believe the nastiness from the “christians”. They do believe that the first amendment applies to them alone. They have been trying to get in the schools for years, both openly and by stealth. They piss and moan if other religions have any voice at all. Satanism kinds weirds me out, but I see the point this particular group is trying to make. If ALL can’t have access, then none should. That is constitutional, not this “we want the sole franchise” thing the fundamentalist christians are trying to pull off. I worked for years in a very low position in one of their local megachurches…I know how they think…I had to walk away from that kind of religion years ago.

Extremists in all religions promote crimes, but here a Muslim jihadist promoting killing others is arrested as a terrorist, but a Christian minister promoting stoning gays or putting them in concentration camps is tolerated; what is the difference? In both cases religion is used as excuse to promote atrocity, yet we legally connect the Muslim who murders and the jihadist who promoted said murders and arrest both as terrorists… but we don’t do the same with Christians who promote murder and the people who take that approval for murder and go do it. There’s a legal and moral bias right there. Ask Ms. Giffords about the “Christian” politician and news agency that put crosshairs up over her photo and practically begged someone to kill her, if those people were held accountable for encouraging the man who shot her. Ask the two gay men recently beaten in PA by a group of young Catholics, all of whom had attended the same school and one who actually worked there.

Yes I’ve read LaVey’s Satanic Bible (a marketing ploy like Hubbard’s), & while I found its philosophy repulsive, it still didn’t match typical portrayals of Satanism. Not saying the latter aren’t out there, but even so, there’s also the LaVey type & apparently several others, including some who take it on simply in retaliation to Christian extremism (rather like Rushdie to Muslim extremists). Regardless, if they don’t break any laws, they’re absolutely free to pursue their religion here.

Christians don’t corner the market on charity; while they do it, there are many others who do too, including Pagans, Muslims, Hindi, etc., Atheists & others. Charity is not an excuse for oppression, and religions ought to hold their own to higher standards of behavior if they want to be seen as “good.”